Sorry for the late Thanksgiving post today, I was drinking through tons of emotions.

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My familial communications plan.

I’m very thankful for living in Los Angeles. A lot of great music comes to me and I needn’t try hard to consume it. There are regularly tons of worthwhile shows from relevant artists. For example, see Tuesday’s post about Lucas Martinez. In fact, I’ll start with him and then continue with the remainder of this list of eight Los Angeles bands worth knowing about:

Lucas Martinez

Lucas maintains a great audio blog where he gives away musical experiments like the Radiohead cover below. He’s an excellent boutique guitarist with a deep respect for sounds from other artists.

Katelyn Benton

Katelyn is a great songwriter. Her new album is being produced by Scott Nickoley (the guy who wrote the music for South Park and The Sixth Sense). Full disclosure: I’m dating her and there’s no way to say that un-awkwardly and I do legitimately enjoy her tunes so don’t think this is some kind of favor and she’s totally hot so really I’m bragging.

Restavrant

Maybe you caught ‘em at SXSW this year. It’s hard not to immediately love Restavrant when you see them live. The drummer plays a suitcase and license plates, and the singer is the best-dressed cowboy you’ve ever seen. They’re originally from Victoria, Texas, though my buddy Jon at Huffington Post now calls them the best band in Los Angeles.

White Lights

Sophisticated indie dance rock is hard to find, and like Restavrant these guys give away tons of it. Unlike Restavrant, White Lights are a six-piece act. That usually stops bands from touring. Their solution? Regular, free, live, streaming web concerts for fans around the world.

Nina Storey

This chick has an extremely loyal live following in Colorado, and her tunes get licensed out to television pretty frequently. Nina rocked a nearly year-long residency at Hotel Cafe where she routinely oozed urbane whimsy.

The Monolators

I feel like these guys live on a futon at The Echo. They’re dependably good indie rock, and they play all the time, so if you like them definitely throw a few bucks to their Kickstarter page.

Magnolia Memoir

Magnolia Memoir offers a jazz- or classical-like pleasure rarely found in bands, where listeners can individually savor each member’s individual proficiencies. They achieve an acid-jazz potency, loosely reminiscent of Portishead or a contemporary Billie Holiday.

Shaimus

Dig pop rock? Shaimus had a big year, getting their tunes licensed to both Rock Band and Guitar Hero. They’re a bunch of Berklee grads. If tightly-composed, guitar-driven ditties are your thing, give ‘em a try.

Gobble,

m